Credit where it’s due: Nick Baker

Nick Baker has shouldered the responsibility of marketing Australia as a holiday destination not just to the rest of the world, but to Aussies as well. As he finishes his seven year stint at Tourism Australia tomorrow, we give Credit Where it’s Due to his efforts.

This is what faced Nick Baker when he came into the big chair of chief marketing officer at Tourism Australia, inheriting the infamous 2006 ‘So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?’ campaign that did more for Lara Bingle’s career than Australia’s image.

Nick Baker at Mumbrella 360, 2014.

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However, in the course of his seven years at the helm of one of the country’s largest and most closely scrutinised marketing organs, Baker has transitioned Brand Australia from brash and bogan to sophisticated and gourmet, yet still retained a sense of fun and identity.

The 2010 extension of the incredibly successful Best Job in the World campaign from Tourism Queensland was a prime example of this evolution.

An incredibly simple idea from then agency Cummins Nitro, creating a job of being a caretaker of Hamilton Island for six months, and opening it up to the world, had gained massive media exposure and a considerable bump in tourism for the Sunshine state. So the decision to create six dream jobs around the country garnered a similar huge response.

And in 2011 when YouTube was looking for a place to bring together an orchestra of musicians from 33 countries who had never met before or played together, what better place to do it than Sydney Opera House. Of course supported by TA, and Baker.

The most recent approach, which saw TA tap a new creative agency in the form of Clemenger BBDO Sydney, positions Australia as the destination for foodies. It continued the theme of sweeping landscapes but also aimed to convey the idea that Australia is the world’s greatest restaurant through showcasing the various food experiences available around the country from Uluru to the cities and the beach.

While Baker’s first year in the role was bumpy, with international visitors dropping in 2009 as the global financial crisis gripped the rest of the world, the numbers picked up substantially in 2010 according to the International Visitor Survey which runs from October to September 30, growing by 6 per cent to 5.381m, with 46 per cent of that number visiting on holiday.

These numbers grew steadily over the years peaking last year at 6.3m, with the number of visitors arriving for a holiday increasing to 2.8m. Importantly trip spend increased 11 per cent to $12.3b. Millions of Aussies associated with the tourism industry will raise a toast to those stats.

While we await with interest the next chapter in his journey, and to see the stamp Lisa Ronson will leave on the position, We’ll lave the last words for this piece for Baker himself, who wrote in his leaving note: “Thank you all for your support and help, I wish you all the best in showing this country to the world, a country Greg Truman said ‘that is still a place where the reward for every breath is just a little more oxygen than you’re expecting’….. not unlike my time with TA.”

Credit Where it’s Due is all about generating positivity about our fantastic industry. While we welcome positive and constructive comments, anonymous or otherwise, this feature a snark-free zone so please bear that in mind when commenting.

Alex Hayes worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017 in roles including editor and head of Mumbrella Bespoke.
He has been a journalist for more than a decade working on newspapers and websites in the UK and Australia, specialising in the media and marketing sector since 2012.

I’d also like to mention that Nick has been an inspiring leadership figure in the world of marketing.

Despite his big workload, he’s always been available to put his head above the parapet and speak on big topics at industry events.

And I’ve always been a little daunted by how well he’s managed to keep his own knowledge up to date at the cutting edge of marketing technology. He knows a lot more than many in his type of position.

Under Nick’s leadership (and to be fair, his former boss Andrew McEvoy)’s leadership, the organisation has been a textbook example of building stakeholder relationships too. I don’t think I’ve come across a more inclusive government-funded body.

Nick, thanks for everything you’ve done for Mumbrella, but also the wider industry.

It’s worth saying that as CMO at Tourism Australia, you’re custodian of a country’s brand – something the people who live here (not just those born in Australia) and those who live overseas feel they themselves own. There cant be a more critiqued campaign that TA’s work and, while I don’t know Nick, I know from his willingness to take on that challenge that he’s got massive cajones. Its enough to scare the bejesus out of most people.

I worked alongside Lisa many years ago and I’m ecstatic for her that she’s stepped up. She too will be fantastic. She’s a smart marketer with an outstanding track record. Looking forward to seeing the output of her work.

Great piece on Nick who has been an outstanding creator of great storytelling platforms. His success has been that all the marketing has been of the highest quality, it has had impact and the commercial world has been able to partner in it (really important). Well done Nick and well done mumbrella for the acknowledgement.. Andrew

As a former reporter who had a lot to do with Nick I can concur. He never shied away from answering the tough questions and even if his answers could lean to jargon (and in that respect he is not alone) he didn’t obfuscate. He always mounted a robust defence of his campaigns and advanced strong and credible arguments as to why he was investing heaps of taxpayer dollars into them. He had to face tough questions as his campaigns were rightly or wrongly viewed as de facto brand campaigns for Oz Inc and I think that as an Englishman it can’t have been easy for him when he found himself in front of his political masters. Much the same could be said of his boss Andrew McEvoy; between them they made a concerted effort to engage the media and bring them along on their journey. I wish Nick well.

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